Digital Home Thoughts: What? Apple is Arrogant? Please, Go On...

"I regret that I’ve seen an increase in this kind of thing lately, and the timing couldn't be poorer. Apple is currently Wall Street’s darling after being the Street’s ugly stepchild for far too many years. While I agree that Apple does some amazing work and deserves every point of its success, much of the world’s view of Apple (and this includes the financial world) is emotional. People are passionate about Apple—for both the good and not so. Regardless of what Apple does in the real world—release great hardware, offer up the finest operating system computerdom has seen, make incredible content deals—if it returns to the days of the Arrogant Apple, it’s going to lose its darling status in a hurry. And this is the path I fear Apple has returned to."

It sure seems odd to be linking to an article about the arrogance of Apple on MacWorld, but I'll hand it to the author for having the guts to stand up and make some noise about some very valid concerns he has with Apple's recent behaviour. The thing is, Apple has always done things like this in one way or another - it's just that as they become more successful, people are going to notice what they do more often. It's all about Steve Jobs, and it always has been.

If you haven't read iCon by Jeffrey S. Young, and you want to know more about why Apple is the company that it is today, I strongly urge you to read the book. Steve Jobs is a megalomaniac, and he always has been - some of Apple's greatest triumphs are because of his singular vision for what he believes people want, but some of Apple's greatest flaws are for exactly the same reason.